He saved a kitten being abused in Springfield. Now, his family has a loving new pet.

Benjamin Cantrell saw a kitten being abused, and he wanted to do something about it.

Police began their investigation on Sunday when they were called to a home on the 100 block of Cottage Place in Springfield. Two witnesses said they were visiting family when they saw a group of people hanging out behind the house. Then they saw a kitten being thrown into the air, according to a police affidavit.

“(They) observed Mr. Robinson throw a young black female kitten approximately 40 feet in the air over a set of power lines behind the garage where after the kitten then struck the ground at full force,” the affidavit says.

Cantrell and his wife witnessed the incident.

“All of a sudden, my wife saw a cat flying through the air,” he said.

He went to the kitten and called police to try to help them find the suspect. Christopher Robinson, 22, was later arrested and sentenced to 90 days in jail by Clark County Municipal Court Judge Eugene Nevius on Monday. He was charged with cruelty to a companion animal and resisting arrest.

Cantrell has since adopted the kitten, and it has become part of his family.

“My daughter, who is also very big into science — her name is Kaley — took the name Kaley’s Comet. Kind of Halley’s Comet play on words. (She) decided the kitten was hers and it was Kaley’s Comet.”

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